Friday 18th.June 2010

Firstly , just for Warren , whilst we were having breakfast , a young Fox cub came into the garden looking for his . It's probably the one Carol found a couple of times down the bottom of the garden , looking up at the Blue Tit's nest . This time he was trying to work out why the birds flew off the feeder when he approached it .
A cool and cloudy morning , so after a couple of jobs , earning a few 'brownie points' , I sorted the rest of the pictures from yesterday's trip to Lullingstone , and have decided to post a few more . The first is what I believe to be a female Dark Green Fritillary , the specimen I saw nectaring on Pyramidal Orchid . Like the Silver Washed Fritillaries , the females are not as vibrant in colour as the males , and this specimen was larger than the others too .
I can't compete with Phil's swarm of Bees , but these two I came across were slogging it out , head to head , and neither seemed to want to give in .
Several Large Skippers were recorded yesterday , and this one was nectaring from one of my favourite chalk grassland plants , the pastel yellow Mouse-Ear Hawkweed-Pilosella officinarum .
This is the Hawkweed with reddish colouring on the underside of the outer florets .
I've mentioned a couple of times recently the 'drab' form of female Common Blue Damselfly ,
and the specimen being held by the blue male , is one of those .
To confuse ShySongbird even further , I came across this Harlequin Ladybird close to the larva and pupa posted yesterday . This one had large spots , mostly fusing together , another example of the variability of this species .
By lunchtime , it did brighten up a bit , so I took advantage with a visit to the Farm lake . On arrival , one of the Jays that always seem to be around , flew up and landed in an Ash , giving just enough time for a shot before disappearing into woodland . The sun even came out , very briefly , and reflected off the wing casings of yet another of the Chafer family-Hoplia philanthus . The sun also encouraged a few Odonata out , but some , like this Four Spotted Chaser , have lost their vibrant colours , and would now be classed as over mature . But , just starting off on life , the larvae of the Iris Sawfly , are doing their best to strip all the leaves from the plants . Just before I was going to leave , the owner came down to the lake for a chat , and invited me up to the stables , where , as usual , 2 pairs of Swallows are nesting again this year . This nest held 3 youngsters , but one of the horse owners told me that she had found a youngster in the yard this morning , struggling on the ground , and as there are a couple of cats around , she returned it to the horse box . The adults were backwards and forwards with food for the hungry youngsters , but they did stop for a short while , to catch their breath , and probably chat about how things were going . By the time I left the stables , the sun had gone and the grey sky looked set for the rest of the day .